By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Despite the economic slump faced by Brazil in 2014, domestic air transportation demand in Brazil grew by 5.7 percent last year, according to ABEAR (Brazilian Association of Airline Companies). According to the association however the growth is lower than that registered in 2013, when the expansion rate reached 6.5 percent.
According to Mauricio Emboaba, ABEAR’s technical director the months of January, July and December were the months of greatest demand and number of passengers.
“These are results which are in line with the typical seasonal variation of domestic aviation. What was different in 2014, due to the World Cup and [Presidential] elections, was that we registered a strong growth in the first and last months of the year, while in June and July numbers were stable.”
During the year data from ABEAR shows that the four largest airline companies in Brazil (TAM, Gol, Avianca and Azul) transported over one hundred million passengers within Brazil.
The data also shows that ASK (Available Seat Kilometers) increased only by 0.8 percent in relation to the previous year. For ABEAR President, Eduardo Sanovicz the reduction of the annual growth rhythm deserves attention, but the result remained positive. “There were more than 101 million passengers in all. That is a lot of clients, each unique and important. The rule is never to disappoint,” said Sanovicz.
In terms of market share for the main Brazilian airline companies for 2014, TAM continued to lead with 38.41 percent of the domestic market share, followed by Gol with 36.40 percent, Azul with 16.77 percent and Avianca with 8.43 percent.